Covered 676 miles yesterday, gained an hour and drove late. Today we woke up with 3 inches of snow on the car. Not what I would say was a good way to start the day. Seeing we stayed at a Ramada there was no breakfast included, seeing we had that good meal last night we opted out till later. Off we went and the first flying object we saw after getting on the snow packed hwy was a mature bald eagle flew right over us. Up and down the mountains we went. We stopped at a visitor center and found the Arches National Park were right down the road. So we stopped at Thompson and filled up.
Down 191 we went and got stopped by a semi trailer tipped in the ditch, luckily it was up righted quickly after we arrived. Couple of the guys ahead of us were out and looking through field glasses and were right on top of the accident and said we will move soon. And soon we did.
We stopped south of the park at Moab, neat name, for lunch. Going down the main street I spotted a restaurant to the right, thank goodness the guy behind me was quick on the brake and I made a fast corner. There was The Broken Oar, the parking lot had a couple cars in it and it looked inviting. Inside it was big furniture; Shirleen needed help moving her heavy wooden chair to get in. Randy said to seat ourselves where we wanted. As there were only two other people there it was easy to sit close to the gas fed fireplace. We ordered two glasses of wine, Randy informed us that we could have pop, beer but the wine would have to wait 10 more minutes as they could not serve that before noon. Shirleen’s grilled cheese was a blend of Swiss cheese between two caraway rye pieces of bread and nicely grilled and a side of sweet potato fires. I jumped on a fish and chips, the chips being the sweet potato fries. At the strike of noon Randy delivered our cab and chardonnay. He said that the sweet potatoes are cooked, sliced to a 1/8 inch thickness, rolled in rice flour and sugar, then quickly frozen otherwise they get mushy.
Now up to Arches National Park to view the arches and topography of the region. The area is made of sandstone, they had a couple named. This area was once a salt bed, many times flooded and evaporated with areas with a thousand feet of salt. It takes about 2 hours to do the short visit. The colors were more orange and gray than Sedona or the richness of Hawaii. Shirleen did not see the Bighorn Sheep yesterday and there was a possibility to see some here. Up the hills we went, taking every side road, looking at every shaft of rock and arch in our path. We rounded a corner and Shirleen said look at those three nuns or Monks that was three big rocks close together, they called them Gossipers. Same difference?? Shirleen’s constant comment was, This is awesome!! I found the viewing just great, the snow covered Meant that it was a light snow and outlined the shapes of the following: rocks, shrubs, trees and dead branches was just spectacular, for me that’s a big thing. We thought we would take a look at the Delicate Arch many timed photo’ed by professional’s and us others photo bugs. To get a good photo we took the trail that went up a, what seemed to me, my last trail. Up and up it went, I stopped a couple times and caught my breath. We got to the top and took a couple pictures. There were three, turned out Aussies who were visiting the states. He was taking pixs and the ladies said they had done the two hour trip to the arch. It was ice packed and hard to walk on. We started back and re-viewed the formations.
Down 191 we went and got stopped by a semi trailer tipped in the ditch, luckily it was up righted quickly after we arrived. Couple of the guys ahead of us were out and looking through field glasses and were right on top of the accident and said we will move soon. And soon we did.
We stopped south of the park at Moab, neat name, for lunch. Going down the main street I spotted a restaurant to the right, thank goodness the guy behind me was quick on the brake and I made a fast corner. There was The Broken Oar, the parking lot had a couple cars in it and it looked inviting. Inside it was big furniture; Shirleen needed help moving her heavy wooden chair to get in. Randy said to seat ourselves where we wanted. As there were only two other people there it was easy to sit close to the gas fed fireplace. We ordered two glasses of wine, Randy informed us that we could have pop, beer but the wine would have to wait 10 more minutes as they could not serve that before noon. Shirleen’s grilled cheese was a blend of Swiss cheese between two caraway rye pieces of bread and nicely grilled and a side of sweet potato fires. I jumped on a fish and chips, the chips being the sweet potato fries. At the strike of noon Randy delivered our cab and chardonnay. He said that the sweet potatoes are cooked, sliced to a 1/8 inch thickness, rolled in rice flour and sugar, then quickly frozen otherwise they get mushy.
Now up to Arches National Park to view the arches and topography of the region. The area is made of sandstone, they had a couple named. This area was once a salt bed, many times flooded and evaporated with areas with a thousand feet of salt. It takes about 2 hours to do the short visit. The colors were more orange and gray than Sedona or the richness of Hawaii. Shirleen did not see the Bighorn Sheep yesterday and there was a possibility to see some here. Up the hills we went, taking every side road, looking at every shaft of rock and arch in our path. We rounded a corner and Shirleen said look at those three nuns or Monks that was three big rocks close together, they called them Gossipers. Same difference?? Shirleen’s constant comment was, This is awesome!! I found the viewing just great, the snow covered Meant that it was a light snow and outlined the shapes of the following: rocks, shrubs, trees and dead branches was just spectacular, for me that’s a big thing. We thought we would take a look at the Delicate Arch many timed photo’ed by professional’s and us others photo bugs. To get a good photo we took the trail that went up a, what seemed to me, my last trail. Up and up it went, I stopped a couple times and caught my breath. We got to the top and took a couple pictures. There were three, turned out Aussies who were visiting the states. He was taking pixs and the ladies said they had done the two hour trip to the arch. It was ice packed and hard to walk on. We started back and re-viewed the formations.
Back up (north) 30 miles to catch I-70. Nice riding until more snow at the passes, 7500 feet or so. Travelling was 50 MPH or so and many cars behind me. One 18 wheeler went around me but later I flew past him. As the storms were in twilight we decided to stop for the evening at Richfield Utah, Comfort Inn. The gal recommended Steve’s Steakhouse, which I would also recommend. The steaks were well prepared but, only in Utah, we had to place our dinner order before we could have our glass of cabernet. That’s the law. Shirleen went small order 5 oz filet, looked like at least 10 to me in comparison to my 10 oz rib eye. Shirleen’s cauliflower/broccoli and my, for the first time in years, a baked potato. We met the owner, 35 year old guy, who said our waitress owned the place, his wife. He asked where we were headed and he said he spent two weeks in Vegas. Off for Vegas tomorrow. jerr
2 comments:
So.... that's fun? Driving snow-packed roads in the mountains? I'm sure the scenery was indeed awesome though. Joe, Em and Luke did a bicycling tour of the Arches National Park a few years ago but in June. Took their own bikes and had some amazing adventures.
Love, Mary
You must be having a great time in LV since it's been 5 days since we've heard from you. Or maybe you won big and are planning way$ of $pending all that loot! Your trip sounds great and in your typical "Shirleen & Jerry" style (translation: fun)!!
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